SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Notre Dame College's head coach Tim Koenig said his team was right there with one of the best teams in the country. With a few second half runs, No. 10 West Liberty University was able to give themselves just enough of a cushion to defeat the Falcons by a score of 103-93, on Sunday afternoon.

The Falcons got off to a fast start offensively, which they needed against a potent West Liberty offense. NDC connected on four free throws, a three pointer and a layup in the first four minutes of action. At the 16-minute mark, West Liberty led, 12-9.

After Notre Dame pulled within one point, West Liberty put some space between the two teams with the first of their many runs. Tyler Primmer hit a three pointer, Marlon Moore Jr. connected on two layups and Dalton Bolon knocked down a three to cap a 10-2 run.

However, the Falcons scored the next eight points, with three coming from Will Vorhees and five from Larenz Thurman. They trailed by just one point, 22-21, with 12:31 remaining in the first half.

West Liberty could not pull away from the Falcons for the remainder of the first half. They're largest lead the rest of the way was six points.

NDC flipped the script with their points coming in bunches, to stay close before halftime. After falling behind by six points with just under nine minutes left, Notre Dame scored four straight points to get within two. With 3:01 remaining, Notre Dame fell behind by five but responded with five consecutive points, to tie the game at 42 with 1:37 to go before halftime.

After 20 minutes of play, the Falcons trailed the Hilltoppers, 49-45. Notre Dame had three players (Thurman, Vorhees and Halil Parks) score in double-digits. Bolon led the Hilltoppers with 19 first half points and he had five of WLU's eight three pointers.

After a layup by Parks cut the deficit to two points at the beginning of the second half, West Liberty scored three consecutive layups and Will Yoakum completed his three point play opportunity after a foul. One minute after the Parks layup, the Hilltoppers led by nine points. West Liberty also had two steals during the 7-0 run and that is something that Koenig said really hurt the Falcons and led to WLU stretching their lead.

"When they went on their runs, we turned it over, we didn't board, and we took bad shots," he said.

Possibly the most pivotal WLU run came between the 14:33-minute mark and the 11:10-minute mark in the second half. After Isaiah Sanders made a bucket to put NDC down by just two possessions, 68-62, West Liberty rattled off nine straight points and, in total, scored 14 of the next 16 points. The Hilltoppers held an 83-64 advantage and they had three more steals in that stretch.

"You can execute for 35 minutes, but if you don't execute for five minutes, that's when they go on their runs," Koenig said. "I'd say the majority of the time, we did pretty good (against the press), but obviously pretty good, isn't going to get it done. They score off of your mistakes."

But the Falcons did not give in, and they did not trade baskets. After falling down by 19 points again with less than 11 minutes to go, Thurman drove, made the layup and was fouled. He made his foul shot. The Falcons forced a turnover and Bruce Hodges III made a layup on the other end. Moore Jr. scored for West Liberty but then Parks and Vorhees each hit layups. The Falcons forced another turnover and a couple possessions later, Thurman split a pair of free throws. Less than a minute later, Parks split a pair of free throws and with six minutes left in the game, Notre Dame had cut the Hilltoppers lead to 10 points, 87-77.

NDC would not stop there. Back-to-back three pointers by Vorhees and Thurman, made the score 91-85 with 3:20 left. WLU tried to pull away, but two minutes later Thurman came up clutch again, connecting on a shot from three point land to make the score 96-90. But that would be as close as NDC could get.

"I'm proud of our guys fighting back," Koenig mentioned. "I really like this group. I really like where we are. I know we're going to keep getting better and I'd love to get right back out there and play."

Thurman scored 17 of his 28 points in the second half and three of his four three pointers in second stanza. His 28 points marked a season-high. Vorhees ended the game with 26 points, eight rebounds and six assists. This game marked Vorhees' first of the season that he did not reach a double-double in points and rebounds and it ends a streak of eight straight games, going back to last season. Parks added 21 points and Angelo Cugini hauled in 13 rebounds, including seven offensive boards.

"Rebounding was good… I thought some of the deflections that we got were there and they (West Liberty) picked it up or in their press we deflected the ball and they got it," Koenig said. "We try to talk about loose balls and rebounds. We did a good job, but there were some lapses."

West Liberty shot 58-percent in the second half, however, their three point percentage was about eight percentage points lower in the final 20 minutes. Yoakum came alive in the second half, going 6-for-8 from the field and totaling 17 points. He finished the game with 26 points. Bolon added 29 points, with six threes and six rebounds. Luke Dyer had five of West Liberty's 12 steals. WLU also scored 29 bench points.

Notre Dame will learn and will be ready for the challenges ahead.

"Our guys know that it's December," Koenig stated. "Our best ball will be in front of us. We have quite a bit to improve on, but when you have a lot of room for growth, it's encouraging."

The Falcons stay home to play West Virginia State University on December 5. The game will tip-off at 7:30 p.m.